Yes vote will result in serious cuts to benefits and new taxes – Kelly

Cllr Anthony Kelly has again called on the people of County Wexford to vote no in the upcoming fiscal compact treaty referendum saying that a yes vote will result in serious cuts to benefits and the introduction of new taxes. Speaking at a public meeting about the treaty in Ballycullane last week Cllr Kelly called on the government and Fianna Fail, the main proponents of the yes side, to explain clearly just how the state can be ran without apocalyptic cuts to the fabric of our society in the event of a yes vote on May 31st.

“The yes side have been constantly asking people campaigning for a no vote where we will get the money to fund the state if the people vote no,” Cllr Kelly said. “It is the yes side, Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fail who should be explaining to us just where they will get the money to fund the state in the event of a yes vote and the implementation of this draconian treaty in Ireland. If this treaty is ratified, Ireland is going to have the pay the piper and once again, as it was with the bank bailout, it will be the ordinary citizens who will end up footing the bill. Where will the money come from when these citizens have already been cut to the bone?”

“The answer is as clear as it is terrifying. They will get the money by cutting social welfare, old age pension, disability and other benefits, by introducing new stealth taxes like the household charge and the septic tank tax and by rising existing tariffs. They will get the money by increasing the taxation of low paid workers and by further cutting vital services in health and education. I would invite any member of the yes side to prove that this will not be the case and to tell me where they will get the money to pay the massive charges that come with this treaty such as the estimated €6 billion that will have to be paid on top of the €8.8 billion already being cut from our economy over the next three years to get us down to a 0.5% structural deficit in 2015.”

“A yes vote on the 31st of May will have unimaginable consequences for this state. Over seven hundred thousand people are living below the poverty line in Ireland today. This treaty will increase this number. It will increase the amount of unemployed and people emigrating every year. It is the polar opposite of what we need right now which is stimulus and job creation. People need to be aware of what this treaty represents and how it will affect them and they need to be ready to get out and vote on May 31st.”